4 Ways to Use Instagram to Grow Your Ecommerce Store
Bonus: Click the below button to download free checklist on how to get more ecommerce store product sales with Instagram.
Instagram users actively seek out products to buy on the network, which makes it one of the best networks for growing your ecommerce store. About 80% of Instagram users follow a brand and 60% discover new products on the network. And 75% take action after being inspire by a post.
Therefore, to help you sell products on Instagram, I have put together these best Instagram tactics to grow your ecommerce store. I have also included some of the best ecommerce tools out there in this post to make it easy for you to implement these tactics….
Optimize Instagram posts for more traffic
A big hurdle ecommerce stores face on Instagram is that they cannot share URLs to products in their post captions. Normally, to get people to check out the products that have been displayed in images, the brand needs to inform readers (through the caption) that they need to click on the URL in the bio to view the product like in the below post from River Island…
As you can see, they posted a pic of a pair of shoes from their online store and included a call to action that reads, “Linkinbio to shop!” This means that in order to find the product, followers need to go from the post to the account’s profile page, click on the URL in the bio and then visit the product page.
This can be very inconvenient and time consuming for both the Instagram user and the marketer, as you will need to constantly change the URL in your bio. And if you change the URL after a campaign and someone comes across the post and clicks on the URL, they won’t find the product. This can cost you sales.
Therefore, you should make your Instagram posts shoppable by tagging products in your photos like Native Union does in the below post.
When you tag products, a bag icon will appear in the bottom left corner of the post. And when people tap on the photo all the products tagged in the post will be displayed.
People can click on each tag, learn more about the product and visit the website to buy it by clicking on the blue button.
After implementing “shoppable posts,” Native Union saw a 2,662% increase in traffic and a 100% increase in revenue from Instagram. And they were able to easily set it up, as their store runs on BigCommerce, which lets you tag products in posts, thanks to a native integration that links your product listings with the social network.
Display Instagram posts from influencers on landing pages
Instagram can be used not just to sell products directly on the network, but also off the network. As you can display posts from influencers and other buyers on your product landing pages. Here’s an example from Fossil.
Many of the top ecommerce platforms allow you to display social proof through ratings and reviews on product pages.
They can convince some people to make a purchase, but a lot of them will still feel skeptical about the legitimacy of the reviews.
This is why doing that extra bit and displaying Instagram posts from real people (along with the bio, description and Instagram username) will make a huge difference.
When people see these pictures, they instantly trust the review. This can help drive sales.
So, encourage people who buy your products to post pictures of themselves with the product on their Instagram account. Also, request them to tag it with a dedicated branded hashtag like Fossil did above with the hashtag #Fossilstyle. That way, you can track this hashtag on Instagram and easily find posts with your product.
Create a special shoppable bio URL
After you start using the above mentioned technique of using shoppable posts, you will have the freedom of experimenting with your bio URL. If your aim is to get email subscribers, you can change the URL to a landing page with a lead magnet, while if it is to drive sales for one specific product, you can just add the link to it instead. You can also add a call to action in your bio that gets people to click.
Another thing you can try to create is a special URL for your bio. When people click on it, it should take them to a page where they can either buy your products or subscribe to your list, like Forever21 does.
When you click on the bio in their URL, you are taken to this unique page.
As you can see, it displays photos of products that were shared on the Instagram page, and an optin field where you can sign up. When you click on the product images, you are taken to the product landing pages.
This can help you build an email list and generate sales.
You can easily set up something like this with Curalate’s Like2Buy feature.
Team up with influencers
Another technique that can help you grow your ecommerce store with Instagram is teaming up with influencers. As Instagram is the best network for influencer marketing.
If you run a well-planned strategy and target the right influencers you will be able to drive a lot of sales. For a complete guide, checkout my post on How to Find Instagram Influencers. Read through it and download the free template for finding Instagram influencers too.
You can also use ShoutCart to find Instagram influencers for as little as $10. You can also manually send an outreach email by figuring out emails of influencers using an email verifier.
Now use these techniques to grow your ecommerce store on Instagram…
Above are 4 powerful ways you can use Instagram to grow your ecommerce store. They will help you drive both traffic and sales. Start off by optimizing your account with shoppable posts and special bio URLs. Next, add photos from influencers to your product pages as this can improve social proof.
And finally, you can work with influencers to promote your products as they can help you reach a lot more followers instantly.
Bonus: Click the below button to download free checklist on how to get more ecommerce store product sales with Instagram.
Have you used any of the above tactics to grow your ecommerce store with Instagram? Which ones have worked best? Please leave your comments below.
